American Republic Online

You can now buy “abstract art” created by a dog. Only $350. If you watch this video you can see that the dog is obviously being forced to paint: he is not allowed to wait for creativity to strike him. Who would want to buy such forced, commercialized “art?” I mean, let him lose to create, don’t hold him back!

In all honesty, I myself went threw a phase where I thought myself an authentic consumer of artistic expressions. I went to all the art places, listened to the “artistic” music, watched the artistic movies, etc. You know the kind where everyone sits down and listen/watches and remarks on the genius of the artist, even though no one really understand what in the world is going on. I was especially susceptible to the movies.
I would rent movies that were supposed to be smart or edgy or some other blatherskite. I’d convince myself that it was good, that I “got it,” and that it was in some way speaking to my soul.

Like the movie Pi. If you ever want to feel like you’re really missing something, watch this movie. Or, if you want to impress your “intellectual” friends, buy it and put it out by the TV like you watch it every night while you sip your chamomile tea before going to bed. I have no idea what the movie was about: I only remember some strung out mathematician that found a brain on the subway steps, and a loud noise happened every time he poked it. I think the brain was supposed to be his. But, as for how it got onto the subway stairs, we are left to our imaginations (or acid trip).

Any how, I have since emerged from these doldrums, and am back to Clint Eastwood Westerns. (I’m just glad I got out of that phase before Brokeback Mountain came out…)